Merano wrote:We're doing our family history and have discovered this interesting forum. We are interested in a particular Crolla family (even though there are lots of them!), We'd like to find info regarding Maria Carmella Crolla, born in London 1877, and whose parents names were Antonio Crolla and Antonia Chuicc ?? (originating from Picinisco area).

Maria Carmella married Giovanni (John) DeMarco (or other spelling). They had two children (?) - Maria Justina (married in Manchester to a man surname Iseppe) and son called Luigi who we think lived his life in Edinburgh. It's possible Maria Carmella Crolla lived in Manchester and moved to Scotland running either ice cream or fish and chip shops.

Can anyone help! Grazie!

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Hi Merano thought you'd like an update on Carmella Demarco as I am convinced we are related...a few things have changed since my last post..the mother of the children(Teresa,Bernard,Joseph) on the censuses posted above was not Margaret,she was Donata Marino who married the father Antonio Crolla in London 1881...I think Antonio already had Carmella possibly from his previos as I have found no birth record for Carmella I cant confirm her mother.Anyway Antonio & Donata moved from London to 81 Maria St where it was confirmed Joseph Crolla was born in 1888..2 yrs after that in 1890 Donata died in childbirth & the family then moved to 41 Cotton St after that.

Right Carmella & Joseph Crolla are on the 1911 census so she remained living in Manchester not Scotland, her daughter Maria (aka Mary) is with her but couldn't see the son you mentioned Louis or their father Giovanni (aka John) Demarco..Carmella is not a widow so I assume he is still alive, I have the marriage cert for Carmella & Giovanni. The aunt Amelia Crolla(nee Wardle)married to Antonio's brother Michael Angelo Crolla.

I also noticed Amelia is from Spain...I beleive there could be a connection between the Crolla family & Spain as Antonio's mother(Carmelas Grandmother) was named as widowed Juanita Crolla b-1833 Naples in the 1881 census at 9 Lees St Ancoats Manchester.Antonio's brother Giovanni was also named Juan..same census.

Hi, I know most of the Crollas in Edinburgh and they are all from a small above Picinisco. My sister is actually married to a Crolla.

I'm actually related to Mary Contini in some wierd way but my father knows most information about Glasgow Italians as my grandfather was one of the main men within the Casa d'Italia. If anyone wants to know anything I can always ask him.

adriana295 wrote:Hi, I know most of the Crollas in Edinburgh and they are all from a small above Picinisco. My sister is actually married to a Crolla.

I'm actually related to Mary Contini in some wierd way but my father knows most information about Glasgow Italians as my grandfather was one of the main men within the Casa d'Italia. If anyone wants to know anything I can always ask him.

Hi Adriana,
Just want to ask if there is any chance you can get hold of a tree for your Scottish Crolla's ^ send it so I can check for any connections between our families.

I'm not too sure if there was a connection between the Manchester Crolla's & Scottish Crolla's...I have researched most Crolla's in Manchester & there seems to be 2 Crolla trees here which are not directly blood related to each other..but are related by marriage. I am related to both on my dads paternal & maternal line through dads maternal grandmother Annunziata Colletta's 2nd marriage in 1899 Manchester to Michael Angelo Crolla b-abt 1872 Picinisco Italy.They had a son Sylvester Crolla in 1901 who was my grandma Eugenia Colletta's half brother. They all lived in Ancoats & then Chorlton on Medlock Manchester through the 1940's 50's. I have not found the origin of my dads paternal line of Crolla's back to Italy yet & all I know is on the 1881 census Juanita was listed as Naples Italy so that could mean Monte Cassino or Picinisco wish I knew.

adriana295 wrote:Hmm, I dont think they would know where to start. I can ask my brother in Law although those names don't ring a bell and in tradition they still name children after the grandparents.

They are all from Picinsico, just remember Crolla is REALLY common! !

Hi Adriana

Yes I have the official Crolla tree from Picinisco..I just wanted to see if your Crolla's were on there..I think Antonio Valvona had a biscuit factory here in Old Trafford Manchester that Crolla family members worked at, could be the brother to the Valvona in Scotland...I think there is a connection but not sure exactly where..I will send you the Crolla tree if you want to email me your email address it's on pdf so you might need adobe to open it. You could show it to your bro in law to see if he can pick any of them out & trust me I know how many Crolla's there are, I've collected records from round the country,USA & Canada for a few yrs now so I'm quite advanced but Scotland Ancestry.com wont disclose full records & I believe you have to visit the archives in person.

I'm also writing my Crolla website here because I have a lot of information & censuses on there for the Manchester Crolla's right back to 1870's. Pages of interest are Victorian Crolla's & Colletta Family, they cover both Crolla lines in my family.The Colletta family page also covers the Crolla Cancer Story written about in the Daily Mail newspaper in 2000.

The information I have passed down to me is my Great Grandfather was Geatano Peter Crolla who's father was Antonio Crolla.
I have a copy of Geatano's wedding certificate when he married Mary Alice Kelsall on 26th Feb 1886.
I also have several family trees which were researched by my Aunty Joan Crolla.
We are all Manchester based and I can't yet see the connection with the Scotland based Crolla's. Although reading Mary Contini's book, Dear Olivia it does suggest a number of brothers who came to the UK late 1800's early 1900's.
Geatano had three brothers, Victorio, Eugenio and Gerardo.

PACrolla wrote:The information I have passed down to me is my Great Grandfather was Geatano Peter Crolla who's father was Antonio Crolla.I have a copy of Geatano's wedding certificate when he married Mary Alice Kelsall on 26th Feb 1886.I also have several family trees which were researched by my Aunty Joan Crolla.We are all Manchester based and I can't yet see the connection with the Scotland based Crolla's. Although reading Mary Contini's book, Dear Olivia it does suggest a number of brothers who came to the UK late 1800's early 1900's.Geatano had three brothers, Victorio, Eugenio and Gerardo.

Hi PACrolla,

We are not connected to the Scotland Crolla's, there are a few Crolla tree's and Alfonso Crolla & son Vittorio from Valvonna & Crolla in Scotland are not on our Ancetral file. I have yours+my tree going back to 1600 Picinisco. I'm in Manchester also and I'm in touch with quite a few members of the Gaetano Peter Crolla + Alice Kelsall branch as well as the other brothers. If you inbox me your email address I will send you the Ancestral file on pdf.

Gaetano's parents Antonio Cesario Crolla & Felice Pia are on my tree twice (*see link below)because my Crolla family are blood related, but also my dads maternal grandmother Anunziatta Colletta[nee D'Agostino] was a widow and then re-married into Antonio Cesario's branch. She married Antonio's nephew Michael Angelo Crolla in 1899 Manchester & they had a son called SylvesterCrolla b-1901 Manchester. Michael Angelo's father was Michele ArcAngelo Crolla. I have written quite a lot about your family branch on the Colletta Family page on my website, just click the link below and you'll see the full story as Sylvester Crolla carried the Crolla Cancer Gene. The tree is immense and a lot of Crolla's have the same names but don't let it overwhelm you, just look for Felice Pia & you will find Gaetano Peter Crolla. I think around the middle-ish, I'm near the bottom.
I've been researcing the family for 6yrs now so have collected most records for Crolla's from America & uk,some Australia & Canada as well but not too many scottish as they're restricted & not full records online for veiwing, you have to go there in person. I have no interest in the Scots Crolla's because at this point I'm pretty sure they're not related to our Crolla tree.